


To Carve a Grin

by Kisuru



Category: Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha | Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha
Genre: F/F, Fluff, Light-Hearted, Pumpkins, Slice of Life
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-24
Updated: 2020-10-24
Packaged: 2021-03-08 19:54:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,896
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27172064
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kisuru/pseuds/Kisuru
Summary: For Halloween Fate, Nanoha, and Hayate decide to carve pumpkins. It's Fate's first time. She learns along the way.Fate needs Nanoha's help more than she realizes. But more than that, she can't help but use her as her inspiration.
Relationships: Fate Testarossa Harlaown/Takamachi Nanoha
Comments: 2
Kudos: 14
Collections: Trick or Treat Exchange 2020





	To Carve a Grin

**Author's Note:**

  * For [EternalEclipse](https://archiveofourown.org/users/EternalEclipse/gifts).



Fate spread newspaper across the metal table. Various Halloween inspired images dyed in black, orange, and purple dotted the pages. Quietly, she absorbed each picture, the spooky details and outlines. A handful of newspapers cross-crossed the table like a checker-boarded cloth all the way to the other side of the table where Hayate sat.  
  
“The designs on this page are really cute,” Hayate said. She pointed at a white ghost design with extra beady, angry eyes.  
  
“Cute, but scary. It’s too realistic,” Nanoha added. She traced the outline of an axe on the newspaper closest to her. A trail of bright colored blood dripped from the blade’s edge and inked down the page.  
  
Fate squirmed in her seat. Not even Bardiche ended up with so much blood glistening on his blade while they fought enemies. How wicked were Halloween monsters from Earth?  
  
Hayate laughed, smoothing the side of the newspaper down. “I guess that’s true. But it’s okay, right? We’re just looking, now. We have to set the mood while we hollow out the pumpkins.”  
  
“Yeah,” Nanoha agreed.  
  
Fate, still lost in thought, couldn’t decide for herself which fit her tastes. The picture that caught her eye on the left hand side of the closest newspaper to her was a startled black cat.  
  
Hayate cupped her mouth as though attempting to hide a secret. She glanced in Nanoha’s direction. “Hey, hey, Nanoha-chan. I think Fate-chan is really into it.”  
  
“Is that true, Fate-chan?” Nanoha’s bright eyes landed on her eagerly.  
  
Fate jumped slightly in place, well-aware of her dead giveaway. It was too late. Nanoha’s full attention, curiosity and gleam of amusement, was suddenly on her, and she didn’t have an explanation ready.  
  
“Um…” Fate glanced at the cat once more. “I think this might be my favorite? This cat is also cute, but it is a little scary. Its glowing red eyes are a little evil, and its hair is standing on end. It’s hissing… So is it mad at someone for hurting it? The poor kitty. That’s not cute but sad? I can’t decide.”  
  
“I never thought of it that way. Ahaha! That’s a very Fate-chan answer, if I say so myself!” Hayate waved her hand approvingly.  
  
Nanoha couldn’t help but smile seeing the confusion written all over her face. “Don’t worry. It’s not an obscure legend about black cats. I don’t think there is a legend about that, anyway. Black cats are unfortunate for their reputation.”  
  
“That’s not fair to them, either.” Fate pouted.  
  
Nanoha scratched her cheek. “Nope! Fate-chan is right. All black cats are drawn in a scary way for Halloween. No reason. That’s what makes telling superstitions mysterious. We don’t know if their bad luck has any merit.”  
  
Eyes rounded, Fate was shocked. “Bad luck?”  
  
“Superstition says black cats cause death and illness. Stuff like that. To anyone who comes in contact with them,” Nanoha said. She bent and picked up a box with a wide handle from the ground. She placed the tool box down in the middle of the table.  
  
“Black cats also follow your shadow,” Hayate said.  
  
Fate’s hand gripped the newspaper. The bold block letters on the print shook under her hand. “The cats… Follow you?”  
  
Of course familiars existed on Midchilda. Having intelligent pets who caused mischief was normal. Many mages had them. However, Fate’s impression of Earth’s cats was different, and she was awed to learn it all.  
  
Nanoha raised her hands above her head like hanging claws. “If a black cat likes you, they say it follows your shadow. No matter how long it takes, they wait until they can feast on your soul.”  
  
Fate’s face gradually paled. Dappled light twining the fiery red tree leaves above their heads perfectly framed Nanoha’s half-hidden face in a terrifying shadow. Such a warning should not be underestimated! Now to think of it, hadn’t she seen a cat following her, just an hour ago before she came into the park to meet up with Nanoha and Hayate? Was it her imagination? Maybe, just maybe, there was a sliver of truth.  
  
“No, that’s too much,” Fate said to herself. Her hand on the newspaper relaxed, shaking her head.  
  
Seeing her take the joke so seriously, Nanoha couldn’t be too mean to her. Nanoha leaned towards Fate. She patted her on the head as though she were a cat to be loved herself. Her heart fluttered, protective feelings overcoming her whole being. “Absolutely, I will protect you if their bad luck comes after you!”  
  
“I’ll… hold you to that promise,” Fate said, a blush heavily dusting her cheeks.  
  
The pat only lasted for a second. But she was in bliss. Even when Nanoha’s arm moved away, she warily watched her shadow fall on the table (luckily, no black cats were hiding nearby in the low bushes). She was speechless, but she never doubted that Nanoha had her back.  
  
Fate didn’t know how she had ended up with bad luck right off the bat. Yet, it was a picture, and the spirit of Halloween was something she slowly found herself slipping into naturally. The poor black cats branded with such a reputation without a Nanoha to protect them, though... Before she could think about it anymore, Hayate plucked three pumpkins from the grass under the table. She plopped them on the table.  
  
“Who wants which?” Hayate asked, biting her lip. “This is the most important decision.”  
  
“Is there a difference which you pick?” Fate asked.

“No! Except this one,” Hayate said, “has the longest stem. Nothing extraordinary or anything.”  
  
Nanoha didn’t wait; she already knew the answer. “Fate-chan, it was your idea to carve pumpkins. You can have the honors first.”  
  
The freshly vibrant, rounded orange pumpkins sat side-by-side, almost identical in appearance. Each pumpkin still had their tall stems reaching towards the sky.  
  
Fate hummed to herself. Nanoha’s twinkling eyes made her want to go ahead and pick right away. She pushed herself across the table and snatched the the largest pumpkin’s stem. “This large one is small, but… You said it had the longest stem? I think it’ll be really cute when done.”  
  
“That’s also a Fate-chan answer,” Nanoha mused.  
  
“You think… so?”  
  
“Fate-chan always takes care of the things that need her the most,” Nanoha said.  
  
A warm sensation rushed through Fate’s veins. But, to Nanoha’s pride, she didn’t look away from her. Their gazes interlocked. Fate stroked the pumpkin under her, all fidgety, thinking about all the times she would jump in front of danger for Nanoha’s sake. No matter how large the obstacle was, it was the same in Fate’s mind. Just like carving a pumpkin without prior experience.  
  
“Okay, you two lovebirds,” Hayate said, cracking open the metal box with a clang. “Shall we get started?”  
  
Nanoha and Fate froze.  
  
“Hayate-chan,” Nanoha laughed. She didn’t mind being called a ‘”lovebird,” but… She stole another glance towards Fate.  
  
Fate’s chest heaved. Was she that obvious? Was Hayate teasing them like usual? But today, even though they had never confessed their true feelings aloud, she couldn’t help but admire Nanoha.  
  
Pairs of three hands dug inside the box. Once the initial chaos was settled, a handful of stickers, knives, and scoopers were evenly distributed between them.  
  
Fate’s hand trembled with trepidation. Suddenly, a mountain was in front of her that blocked out even the light of reassurance she had built up – but it wasn’t any mountain, it was the pumpkin that she had to climb and conquer! Would she make a mistake?  
  
Poking the pumpkin in the side, Fate sighed. She squinted at the bumpy curves of the pumpkin’s exterior, her mouth set into a thin line. Hayate was busily sinking the boning knife into her pumpkin’s face like a pro, and Nanoha striped splotches on hers with a permanent marker.  
  
To Nanoha, Fate’s awkwardly furrowed brow was oddly adorable. Whenever Fate thought about the best way to do things, she undeniably was the sweetest girl alive.  
  
“Fate-chan, do you want to try drawing on paper first?” Nanoha asked. She grabbed a leaflet of blank paper and held it towards her. “It might be easier for you to practice with this. Before you really leave the marks on the pumpkin and carve the wrong spots.”  
  
Her hand automatically reached out for the drawing paper. Reconsidering, Fate pulled her hand back, rocking back and forth on whether to take the extra time, wanting to take it but also wanting to be as skilled as Nanoha and Hayate. After all, the lines on Nanoha’s pumpkin were straight bars of black without scribble lines. She glanced at the newspaper’s distorted faces once more for some inspiration.  
  
“I can do it,” Fate said, holding her pumpkin higher.  
  
“Are you sure? You don’t have to be shy,” Nanoha said, tone teasing.  
  
Fate shook her head. “I-I can do it, I really can! It can’t be that hard. I used to draw on my own, and I was very neat and tidy.”  
  
In her memories of drawing, though, Alicia had only drawn in coloring books. But the sentiment lasted. It was a bit childish, but practice was still practice.  
  
The marker again hovered above the pumpkin’s face.  
  
Her hand tilted left, then right, then several inches to the left. The point almost glided across the pumpkin and left a mark. She swiftly retracted her hand.  
  
On second thought...  
  
To no avail, Fate couldn’t bring herself to mark the pumpkin in any particular way. Nanoha watched her from the corner of her eye. She moved the marker up and then and back down again. Curvy, jagged lines were drawn in the air, but Fate’s shakiness spoke for itself. Again, she visualized Nanoha’s pumpkin, and she couldn’t give up on it now.  
  
The paper wedged between the creases of newspaper.  
  
Sketched lines slowly appeared on Fate’s practice paper while she took her time to keep her hand steady. She started with a bow for a smiling mouth, and a triangle nose. The black cat from the newspaper also had a triangular nose. A triangle nose would look good in theory… But she wanted a lucky pumpkin for her effort, and she would wish the bad luck away. Three small lines intersected into a triangle. Once she reached the eyes, she was stumped.  
  
“Nanoha…” Fate said. “Should I draw regular round eyes, or do something… weirder?”  
  
“You can make them round. But it might not be a real circle. The edges can be uneven when you carve,” Nanoha said. “Planning for a circle might not help.”  
  
“Why not?”  
  
“Because you might cut too much out while carving.” Nanoha watched Fate frown in concentration. “But it’s okay. For this kind of thing, it’s expected your mistakes might make it look more… unexpected?”  
  
Nanoha’s deft strokes on her pumpkin had a different effect on Fate. Could it be true that mistakes might be good? “If you say so. That might be how artists come up with so many unique things on their own.”  
  
“Exactly!” Nanoha said.  
  
Fate was loose with her hand. She used the marker to dot two thick, wide eyes, the scribbles on the sides bleeding out from the main object and pointing out in slanted directions.  
  
“Ehehe. I think that looks less stiff,” Nanoha said.  
  
“Really?”  
  
“Yeah. Even if it doesn’t come out so uneven, you can work with the result.”  
  
Fate nodded. Then, taking a deep breath, she reached for her pumpkin and lifted the bottom in her palm.  
  
Fate was satisfied. She picked up the small knife next to her supplies. Briefly, she indulged in the smooth, cool feel of the knife’s handle, her thoughts drifting. If she was stumped before, she was recharged like a battery now. Hayate’s arm moved back and forth even though she couldn’t see her work. Nanoha… she couldn’t ask again. Show her work, don’t tell.  
  
Fate lightly stabbed the tip into the pumpkin’s flesh.  
  
Hard. The skin was rough. Fate steadied her arm. She placed the tip of the knife against the pumpkin and sank it in. Tilting it back, she started when she reached the eyes, taking a deep breath. She went to work. A circle formed under her hand’s guidance. With the pumpkin’s bumps, though, the circles turned into a crooked edge like before.  
  
Nanoha’s grip on her pumpkin was less shaky. She scraped along the outside and softened the surface up before she plunged her knife tip in. Twisting the knife, a piece of the pumpkin landed on the newspaper. More and more pieces followed. A wide mouth was left in its wake as she went along.  
  
In fact, Fate was doing well. Very well. But something in Nanoha’s heart swelled, and she wanted to be apart of her experience as well.  
  
“See, you can carve it like this,” Nanoha said. “Here, Fate-chan, let me help. It’s hard to do it the first time.”  
  
Nanoha’s hand landed on the back of Fate’s hand. Carefully, she maneuvered her hand, dragging the point of the knife above the pumpkin’s surface. Fate instantly felt the knife disappear under her hand as Nanoha maneuvered, their fingers intertwined. The warmth of her palm pressed to the back of her hand. Slowly, pieces of the pumpkin’s orange skin were peeled, and a break in the pumpkin’s surface chipped away a long mouth. Fate continued the line to the side and back an inch.  
  
“You’re skilled with a knife,” Fate noted, her hand tightly gripping the handle. Her guidance was a blessing.  
  
“Not really,” Nanoha said. Thinking about her answer, she shrugged, smiling sheepishly. “It’s just that I’m using to cooking and cutting. Cutting into bread is harder than you would think it is. So digging into thick surfaces isn’t difficult.”  
  
“Yeah.”  
  
Fate reluctantly watched as Nanoha’s hand retreated from hers. Nanoha was also unwilling to leave, but she had to let Fate experience carving on her own. But she had given into selfishness.  
  
Returning to the task at hand, Fate re positioned the knife. She cut into the area nose. The knife twisted, and her her hand moved up at a diagonal angle, back down in the same fashion, and then a cross at the bottom. The piece that fell out left behind a nose with an oddly slanted circular top. Left in despair, Fate sighed.  
  
“You were right,” Fate said to Nanoha. “It's never the same, isn’t it? But I think… it has character like this?”  
  
Nanoha glanced at Fate’s practice drawing for reference. She laughed. “Yeah, it’s like that. I guess you dug out too much trying to make the point at the top. But it’s not bad or anything.”  
  
“Yeah. That’s good.”  
  
Emboldened, Fate went ahead and do more. Her enemy faced her, but the eyes had already met their maker; the uncleared space of the mouth greeted her. Now that she thought about it, the eyes had been less long in comparison.  
  
Swallowing nervously, Fate planned the mouth in her mind. Her original vision of the mouth had been different on paper. More simple, more flat like a close-line. The knife cut into the edges, turning left.  
  
While Nanoha worked, she smiled. Fate was caught off guard. Her lips twisted into breezy grin full of pleasant dreams and aspirations. Her cheeks were tinged pink with happiness.  
  
Nanoha watched her from the corner of her eye. She couldn’t see what she was doing, but Fate’s lips twisted upward, too, her body pressed against the edge of the table. (So, so close – she studied Nanoha for inspiration.) She could watch her like this all day.  
  
Fate’s muscles unwound, and her movements were fluid. So engrossed was she that she barely noticed she cut a little too much from the pumpkin’s mouth corner. An irregular chunk fell off. Each new scrape and dig in was like magic; Fate’s body was light, as though she were flying. The pumpkin that greeted her had chunks taken out of both sides of its mouth. The mouth upturned into a smile that was both creepy yet gleeful. It was wholly uneven, jagged, like a hook carved into both ends. This task lasted several minutes.  
  
Once was Nanoha put the finishing touches on her pumpkin, she returned to Fate. “How are you doing?”  
  
“I-I… um… Nanoha…” Fate said. It definitely wasn’t what she envisioned, but she couldn’t say she didn’t put effort into it.  
  
The grin was beautiful. It reminded her of Nanoha.  
  
Fate’s cheeks went aflame, quite pleased. “I like it!”  
  
Hayate raised her hand. “Let me see, too!”  
  
Fate turned the pumpkin for her to look.  
  
Hayate gave her a thumbs up. “That looks scarier than mine!” She turned her own pumpkin and showed them.  
  
“Wow, Hayate-chan,” Nanoha said. “Your pumpkin looks perfect.”  
  
Hayate’s pumpkin indeed had that appearance. The eyes, nose, and mouth were in perfect sync with each other, as if the pumpkin was actually a picture. Only a few edges had knife strokes cut out of line around the eyes.  
  
Fate would have been worried, but they sounded so reassuring. She patted her pumpkin’s head. “You like this little one, too?”  
  
Nanoha traced the edge of the pumpkin’s eye. “It has character. I think it makes it even scarier than mine. But…” She squinted. “I like the mouth the most. It looks so… creepily happy?”  
  
“Can you be creepy and happy?” Hayate wondered.  
  
Fate couldn’t disagree. The chunk broken out of Nanoha’s pumpkin was more a decoration than a fluke. Things like this happened – emotions even came through in art pieces. Her pumpkin was on a whole different level.  
  
“I think so!” Fate said. She couldn’t hide her face. But Hayate and Nanoha didn’t guess her secret, and she breathed a sigh of relief.  
  
Hayate’s eyes gleamed. She didn’t say anything, but she stifled a smirk. Had Nanoha and Fate grown closer in so little time?  
  
“Okay,” Hayate said. She turned her pumpkin to the side. “Let’s cut the bottoms and take out the seeds. We can roast them later.”  
  
Cutting the pumpkin bottoms was more difficult than cutting the middle. Fate held the back and keep it in place, careful not to tip it too far (but it wasn’t a big deal if the seeds fell out). The bottom eventually fell out with a creak. The goo and seeds inside slowly oozed on her hand and spilled out across the table.  
  
“It’s so sticky,” Fate said.  
  
Nanoha, who was in the same boat, tossed the seeds into the shared bowl in the middle of the table. “They are, but it’s fun to pick them out, don’t you think? Sometimes you have to get dirty to have fun.”  
  
“It’s very fun.”  
  
Fate’s fingers were immediately greasy while she picked out the seeds. She and Nanoha both tossed their seeds at the same time. The seeds collided against each other, dropping into the bowl.  
  
The afternoon sun sank and died on the horizon. Rays of dark evening sun dyed the clouds royal purple and aggrieved yellow. The cut pumpkins eventually stood hollow, as though waiting for orders as soldiers. All three pumpkins standing side-by-side on the table.  
  
Fate tore out a sheet of stickers. She placed a few ghost stickers on her pumpkin’s head. Seeing a black cat sticker similar to the one on the newspaper page of ads, she added it to the pumpkin’s forehead. No matter what, her pumpkin was lucky! That was that.  
  
Nanoha went for cotton candy and candy corn stickers. Hayate forewent all of that and cut and glued used candy wrappers to hers for a sense of sheen.  
  
“Are you sure the pumpkin is completely carved out, Fate-chan?” Nanoha asked.  
  
Fate peered inside the pumpkin. She scooped and scraped at the excess filling she had somehow missed and tossed the remains on the newspaper. “Now it is.”  
  
“Well, the pumpkins aren’t complete without a candle,” Nanoha said. “I just want to see what it looks like with the candle glowing inside in the darkness… nyhaha.”  
  
“Maybe you’re the scary one, Nanoha-chan,” Hayate said, stepping back.  
  
“Eh? Don’t you want to see it too, Hayate-chan?”  
  
“Scary, scary~”  
  
“Geeze...”  
  
Fate sorted through the candles they had picked out. Which one should she choose? She didn’t know… One was pumpkin scented. The delicious, sweet scent of the fresh pumpkin was still stuck on her fingers and lingered in her nose. In comparison, the genuine article pumpkin was mellow. She took the pumpkin candle, lit the wick, and sniffed the wafting scent. The strong, burning scent overwhelmed her. The candle was twice the smell of even the pumpkin itself.  
  
“Wow.” Fate winced. She sniffed again. “This one makes my eyes water up.”  
  
“It smells good, right?” Nanoha said. When Fate sampled warm things she didn’t know, especially when it was something like this, she couldn’t help but feel like she was completely in the heat of the moment.  
  
“I thought the pumpkin would smell the most,” Fate said. “But this is nice.”  
  
The newspaper was pushed to the side. Fate placed the candle before her on the wooden surface. Then, she put the pumpkin head above it. As if the jack-o-lantern roared to life, the eyes flickered with evil and carefree red hue.  
  
“Wow,” Fate said, “it really does look like it might jump at me with so much red reflected on its face. I think I finally get a superstition.”  
  
“It looks mysterious,” Hayate added.  
  
“I think you’ll win in that department,” Nanoha said.  
  
The other two pumpkins lined up next to Fate’s. The scents of spiced pumpkin and vanilla joined the smell of Fate’s plain pumpkin; all the scents mixed into a pleasant autumn feast of flavor. Fate, Nanoha, and Hayate stood back from the table, observing their work brighten up the park’s small corner with a little light.  
  
Something nagged at Fate. It took her a while to grasp whatever was on her mind.  
  
“It’s missing something,” Fate said, frowning.  
  
Nanoha examined the pumpkin. “Do you see a mistake you regret?”  
  
“No. I like everything.”  
  
After weighing her options, Fate knew what the issue was. She untied the white ribbon from her hair. The ribbon wrapped around the side of the pumpkin’s long stem. A breeze blew by. As if reminded to keep the ribbon safe and in good condition at all times, she hurriedly tied the ribbon into a neat, strong bow, watching the ends flap in the chill autumn air.  
  
Seeing what Fate did, Nanoha’s expression shifted, stunned. Her eyes and smile softened. She had to be on equal terms.  
  
Nanoha untied the ribbon in her hair – the black one that Fate had given her, what felt so long ago now – and mirrored her action. The ribbon fluttered in the breeze and brushed Fate’s. She scooted her pumpkin closer to hers to stand.  
  
Together, the pumpkins shone and flickered with firelight under the darkening purple haze of twilight.  
  
Tapping her foot on the ground, Fate deliberated with herself. In the end, she shuffled towards Nanoha. She grabbed her hand, holding onto her tightly.  
  
“They look really cute after all,” Fate said. “As long as you make it.” As so many times that evening, she couldn’t look away from Nanoha’s beautiful face.

Nanoha leaned against Fate’s side. She pecked her on the cheek in a short kiss. She grinned. “When you put your heart into it, it always shines. Cute and wonderful.”


End file.
